Thursday, November 8, 2018

One Thing Leads To Another

And that can send us out
of this world.

When Peggy’s bronchitis was
at a low point about ten days ago we thought it best to take her temperature. I
had to search for the thermometer which we hadn’t used for at least twenty years.
It was that old-fashioned type. After a few minutes of twisting and turning the
mercury was still elusive and seemed to be stuck around 98 degrees before and
after a few minutes under her tongue. I didn’t trust it and went out and bought
a new digital one bringing me into this century.

I started thinking about
that strange element, mercury, which I probably played with as a kid rolling
the glob around, not knowing better. Quicksilver was the common name. It was
quick and it was silver. Was it liquid or solid or both?

Before antibiotics or
sulfa drugs mercury was used to treat all sorts of infections from syphilis to
malaria. It was a favorite of alchemists who turned quicksilver into quick
death. A corpse or two never stopped them. Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration
of Independence, was a great believer. His mercury panacea, Dr. Rush’s Bilious
Pills, was so toxic it poisoned and partially destroyed whatever organ it
touched. He gained fame by fighting off a Yellow Fever epidemic. Bodies reacted
by purging it along with our partially poisoned entrails. Lewis and Clark packed six hundred Rush’s laxative
pills with their gear while exploring the western territory. Sam Kean in his
book, The Disappearing Spoon, tells
how traces of the stuff can still be found which tell us where William and
Meriwether built their campfires. Lewis died shortly after their return from an
apparent suicide possibly with effects of that slippery substance. Mercury took
its toll.

At one time hat manufacturers
used a mercurous compound in the separation of fur from pelts. Hence the Mad
Hatter of Alice in Wonderland. The
stories of mercury take us to a land of wonder. As the vet said to the
cat-owner, I’m afraid it’s terminal. She
has a case of curiosity. Kids and cats can die from it. Fortunately my
curiosity stopped short of getting enough of that wonderful stuff spilling out
of broken thermometers.

The Romans renamed Hermes,
Mercury just as Zeus became Jupiter. Mercury gave us the words merchant, merchandise and mercantile. Hermes/Mercury, with his
winged feet, was the messenger whose swift delivery corresponded with its rapid
orbit closest to the sun (Apollo). Its elliptical itinerary is speedy but its
spin is slow and the ancients mistook it for a sudden reversal of its west to
east orbit. Actually it is just zipping around the sun at a faster speed than
Earth giving the illusion of going backwards. Hence the notion, dear to
astrologers, that Mercury is in retrograde 3-4 times a year. In Greco-Roman society
Mercury, the demigod, reigned over communication, commerce and travel. He even
escorted the dead to Hades and some of us living to an optical illusion.

It explains everything……if
you are a believer. The missed flight, the bad phone connection, the overdue
library book. Everything except a random universe and why quicksilver results
in quick slivers when ingested. That glob of spilled mercury became a small
planet, inhospitable to us earthlings and a trouble-maker as a nostrum for
centuries. If anything is in retrograde it is America since Donald took office.